Good ‘First Quarter’ grades important

Pmaloney_2 Hey all, after what seemed to me to be a very short week in the office, I’m back out on the road.  I’m writing from Wilmington, Delaware and I apologize that I don’t have any exciting photos to share in this entry.  I’m not saying that Delaware doesn’t have anything worth taking photos of, but I just didn’t have time to see much before driving north to the Philadelphia area for the next few days.

Anyway, while taking in a few sports games yesterday in the airport, namely the Patriots and the Red Sox, I saw a car commercial several times that made me think.  Maybe you know the one.the women is running through a neighborhood and then crosses the street and runs directly into a parked car with a loud thud and then falls to the ground.  Admittedly, I chuckle a bit when I see it and maybe that’s not great to say, but it’s the truth.  At this point, you should be asking what does this have to do with college admissions.  (If you’re not, I’m concerned for you.)  Anyway, I’m telling you about this commercial in the closing weeks of October because for many of you high school seniors the next few weeks represent the end of the first quarter of your senior year, and this is a milestone.  Senior year should be a year that you buckle down and show colleges that you are doing your best work in your senior year in your toughest courses.  Getting back to that advertisement, a few students represent that runner and they run smack into a car during the 1st quarter of their senior year.  Not literally, of course, but for one reason or another, their grades slip and this is a trap you do not want to fall into.  Some of you may even be thinking about applying Early Decision to a college, and that only further stresses the importance of these first quarter grades.  Holy Cross, along with several other institutions, require 1st quarter grades from your senior year.

So remember, it’s not enough that you just signed up for lots of Honors and AP classes this year, but you must be performing well in them as well.

Watch out for those cars along your running route!

And, of course, go Sox!

pat

Patrick Maloney ’02
Assistant Director of Admissions

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